Nexus between audit committee chair experience and accounting conservatism in a developing economy: Evidence from Jordan

Abstract

This study examines the effect of audit committee chair experience on accounting conservatism in Jordanian publicly listed firms, addressing a key gap in corporate governance literature in emerging markets. The analysis is based on 340 firm-year observations from 68 non-financial service and industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange during 2018–2022. Firms were selected from an initial population of 169 companies; financial institutions were excluded due to sector-specific regulations, and others were removed for delisting or insuffcient data. Accounting conservatism is measured using Basu’s asymmetric timeliness model. Audit committee chair experience is captured along two dimensions: accounting experience and supervisory experience. The model includes controls for firm size, firm age, profitability, board size, audit committee size, and the COVID-19 pandemic years. The findings show that both accounting experience and supervisory experience significantly strengthen accounting conservatism. These results suggest that audit committee chairs with relevant experience enhance governance effectiveness and mitigate opportunistic financial reporting. This study makes a novel contribution by providing the first empirical evidence on the direct impact of an audit committee chair’s supervisory and accounting experience on accounting conservatism.